Record rainfall in Eureka; Sunday drenching caused by two storms

Eureka broke a record Sunday for daily rainfall with 2.58 inches of rain, the National Weather Service said Monday morning.

"It's likely the 2.58 was a top 10 24-hour rainfall for the month of March in our history here," meteorologist Ryan Aylward said. "It's uncommon to get that much rain in one day in March, but it's not unprecedented."

The previous record of 1.7 inches was set in 1983, Aylward added.

He said the timing of the rainfall is what allowed the record to be broken.

"The rain happened to start right at midnight the day before, and end at midnight the next day," he said. "It was almost the perfect 24-hour window."

Typically, half of a storm comes one day, and the second part comes the next.

The drenching rainfall was caused by an atmospheric river that moved through and stalled over the North Coast on Sunday, according to the NWS. One low pressure system arrived in the morning, and another wave came in the evening.

For the month of March, Eureka has received 3.42 inches of rain so far -- normal is 5.2.

"In the first week we're over half the normal rainfall for the month," Aylward said.

But for the water year, which starts in July, Eureka has only received 15.98 inches of rain, he added. Normal by this time of year is 30.86.